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posted by takyon on Monday August 03 2015, @08:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the coutsourcing dept.

In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.

The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones. The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.

There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.

The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.
...
The growth of robotics in the area's factories comes amidst a particularly harsh climate around factory worker conditions, highlighted by strikes in the area. One can only wonder whether automation will add fuel to the fire or quell some of the unrest.

Is eliminating the work force the best way to solve labor unrest?


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday August 03 2015, @09:50AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 03 2015, @09:50AM (#217313) Journal

    How ecological of them!! </sarcasm>

    Unfortunately, that's not true. Really now: more than 66 furnances. [wikipedia.org]
    As ghastly as is sounds. here are some details [nizkor.org].

    In comparison, the incineration of the Nazi victims of homicidal gassing at Auschwitz was done with no such restrictions. This can be seen in the Operating Instructions for Coke-Fired Topf Double-Muffle Incineration Furnace:

    "As soon as the remains of the corpses have fallen from the chamotte grid to the ash collection channel below, they should be pulled forward towards the ash removal door, using the scraper. Here they can be left a further 20 minutes to be fully consumed, then the ashes should be placed in a container and set aside to cool.... In the meantime, further corpses can be introduced one after the other into the chambers." (Technique p.136.)

    What this means is in reality the incineration of the victims didn't take just "20 minutes" (or 30 minutes, etc.) but an additional 20 minutes to be fully consumed in the ash channels of the furnaces.

    ...

    "Müller claimed that there was a direct relation between increased use and increased economy. If the cold furnace required 175 kilograms (kg) of coke to start up a new incineration, it needed only 100 kg if it had been used the day before; a second and third incineration on the same day would not require any extra fuel thanks to the compressed air; and those that followed would call for only small amounts of extra energy..." (Anatomy, pp.185-186.)

    How small is "amounts of extra energy?" Two kg of coke's worth?
    It is also interesting to note that according to the Operating Instructions for Coke-Fired Topf Double-Muffle Incineration Furnace that:

    "After each incineration, the temperature rises in the furnace. For this reason, care be taken that the internal temperature does not rise above 1100C (white heat).... This increase in temperature can be avoided by introducing additional fresh air." (Technique, p.136.)

    This, of course, supports the assertion that the combustion of the corpses acted as fuel for the incineratoin process, thus reducing the amount of coke needed to heat the furnace.

    True, open air cremation was used sometimes [blogspot.com], when crematoria weren't operational

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